Business Rules 

The behaviour of modern day enterprises, as well as society, is largely determined by rules. Examples of such rules are:

1. Taxation laws.
2. Rules governing the application of mortgages.
3. Guidelines guiding doctors in diagnosing patients.

Collectively one may refer to these rules as business rules. Business rules constrain/guide the behaviour of businesses/enterprises, both with regard to operational processes as well as change processes. In this course we will investigate several aspects of such rules. For example, the modelling processes required to obtain these rules, the languages needed to express the rules, as well as the measurements needed to enforce them. With regards to the process of modelling business rules, we will take the perspective that this involves a specific kind of knowledge engineering since business rules essentially capture organisational knowledge.

Finally, business rules are a means to an end. Some parties must have some reason to regulate the behaviour of/in an enterprise/society. In this need we find the rationalization for business rules and their deployment. We will take a risk management perspective in reasoning about such regulatory need, allowing us to take a cost-benefit perspective on business rules and their deployment.

After attending this course, students are able to:

• argue about the role of business rules in enterprises and society,
• compare and position different strategies/approaches for the formulation and rationalisation of business rules,
• compare and position different languages to represent business rules,
• compare and position different strategies/approaches for the deployment of business rules.

• 32 hrs lecture
• 32 hrs problem session
• 104 hrs individual study period